Cook has curated a dozen or so of these videos, some of which can be viewed on our site. Entitled "Afghanistan War YouTube Video Fest," these mini-documentaries will be screened at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, on October 7 and at AS220 in Providence on October 8. Admission is free, and the screenings will be followed by conversation with the audience.

Cook writes: "The YouTube videos provide direct, graphic information and experience of what the war is like, including New England soldiers leaving for Afghanistan, American helmet-camera footage of a firefight, wounded Americans being evacuated by helicopter, a soldier's intimate video diary, Taliban fighters in action, American soldiers blowing off steam by recording their own music video for Lady Gaga's song 'Telephone' (which became a Web sensation), and a soldier meeting his son for the first time since getting back from Afghanistan." It is a remarkable compilation, low-key yet intense. These shards of experience combine to present a mosaic of experience suggesting — not preaching — that it is time to come home. The power of that suggestion is so strong that we urge you to attend Cook's teach-ins. And if you can't attend, go online and view them there.

To date, the war has cost 2670 allied and American dead, almost 700,000 American veterans seeking medical treatment at home — half of whom need psychiatric care for traumatic stress — and tens of thousands of civilian Afghan casualties. In dollars, conservative estimates will soon exceed $500 billion.

Embedded Linda Bhatia gave her son’s Scout badges to his old pack and his 700 books to his alma mater, Brown University, but she will never let go of the things he had in his final days: his compass, the dimes in his pocket, his wallet, the watch he was probably wearing when a roadside bomb killed him in Afghanistan.

Review: The Tillman Story An extraordinary convergence occurs about halfway through Amir Bar-Lev's infuriating, heartbreaking account of the life, death, and afterlife of NFL star turned problematic war hero Pat Tillman.

A decade of turmoil 9/11 has become such a given — such a fixed star in American culture and politics — that as the tenth anniversary approached, it was easy to imagine we had somehow come to terms with the attacks.

Will anything change now that Osama is dead? The death of Osama bin Laden and the impending 10-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks have many people contemplating the gains and futility of nearly a decade of American engagement overseas.

Review: A Marine's Guide to Fishing On the one-year anniversary of a life-changing incident on a foreign battleground, a Marine (Matthew Pennington) begins to take up his old life again.

Review: High Ground In October 2010, 11 wounded Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans — blind, missing limbs, suffering from traumatic brain injury or PTSD — took part in "Soldiers to the Summit," a mission to climb Nepal's 20,000 foot Mt. Lobuche.

Dor Guez's family matters Some find Dor Guez's subjects controversial, apparently unable accept the fact that folks on the losing side of wars get screwed.

Gaza: What next? Widespread hopes among democracy-loving Europeans and Americans that the grassroots revolt against authoritarian governments of various stripes would usher in a new era of tolerance, peace, and understanding have not gone according to script.

MERCY AND SAL DIMASI | March 13, 2013 When it comes to showing a modicum of mercy to some of those convicted of federal crimes, Barack Obama is shaping up to have the worst track record of any president in recent memory.

NEXT, MARRIAGE EQUALITY | March 05, 2013 On March 27 and 28, the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in two cases that could essentially put America on the road to full marriage equality.

THUS SPAKE MARKEY | February 26, 2013 Last week, Congressman Ed Markey inadvertently injected some daring political thinking and a touch of historical imagination into the race to fill the US Senate seat vacated by John Kerry's appointment as secretary of state.

DRONES: 10 THOUGHTS | February 20, 2013 Foreign drone attacks are almost (but not quite yet) as American as apple pie.